MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S REVIEW:
I was hesitant to watch a Shaw Brothers movie made in 1966; I admit, the
stuff I have grown to love in kung fu cinema started in the 1970's -- the
colorful gore of Chang Cheh, the intensity of Bruce Lee, and the physical
genius of Jackie Chan -- so could there possibly be some appeal in a late
1960's flick for me? Hmmm... 1966... let's see, Sergio Leone made The Good,
The Bad & The Ugly... The Beatles made Revolver (okay, that's an album,
but you get my point). The fact is, yes, the 1960's was a groovy time for
music and movies all over the world, and the Shaw Brothers produced films
were no exception.

I've never been a big fan of heroine
kung fu movies; in fact, I've tried to stay away from them every chance
I got. Could you blame me for being a male chauvinist pig when it came
to genuine ass kicking? Of course not. With Come Drink With Me, I'm forced
to say that Cheng Pei Pei (who plays Golden Swallow, the film's protagonist)
is the real deal; for the first time in kung fu movie history, I actually
enjoyed seeing a woman beat the hell out of the bad guys. I'm not sure
what it exactly is about her, but she pulls off a believable kung fu fighting
babe and does a much better job portraying one than Angela Mao, Michelle
Yeoh and Moon Lee COMBINED... and I'm not talking in a fight-choreography
sense; I'm talking in terms of how she carries herself with her no-nonsense
charisma. And who knows, maybe some of the credit could be given to director
King Hu? Frankly, I haven't seen enough of his or Cheng Pei Pei's work
to give a valid opinion.

As it stands, Come Drink With Me
is one entertaining film. I've heard both good and bad things about it...
it's "boring", there's "too much talk", it's a "classic",
it's "influential"... I'm shooting for the more positive remarks.
It has a plot that's solid and simple. It's probably not as graphic and
action packed as your average Chang Cheh film, but you do get the occasional
blood-in-the-face shots, dismembered body parts and even some mystical
shit for you fantasy fucks (and the visual effects were done pretty damn
well, especially for the time). Even the villains are colorful and have
a lot more character than the majority of baddies in an average kung fu
film. And you have to love Golden Swallow's semi-sidekick, Drunken Cat,
played by Yueh Hua.

King Hu's direction is top notch.
The cinematography is beautiful. The sets are visually lavish. For the
most part, the fight choreography may seem bland when compared to today's
standards; but to even up the odds, they bare less edits and camera tricks.
To sum it all up, Come Drink With Me is a film that I appreciate and its
innovation and influence reflects many popular martial arts movies of today.
Sounds like a classic to me.

And now, my eyes are drooling over
Golden Swallow (the Chang Cheh-directed sequel to Come Drink With Me) and
the One Armed Swordsman series.